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Nokia reported its latest first-quarter earnings on Thursday, sending a clear signal to partner Microsoft that it continues to struggle to get back on the track.
This comes only a few days after Microsoft — Nokia’s partner in the smartphones — said that it believes the Finnish phone maker is a “great” company and partner and that Microsoft has no plans to launch a Surface-branded smartphone of its own.
Lumia shipments were up by more than 25 percent to 5.6 million shipments during the first quarter, up from 4.4 million during the fourth quarter.
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By comparison, according to Reuters, Apple shipped close to 37 million iPhones, and Samsung leaped ahead with more than 61 million smartphones during the quarter.
Nokia said that its overall smart device shipments totaled 6.1 million devices during the quarter, which includes Lumia smartphones and Asha devices.
Looking ahead, the phone maker said it estimates Lumia shipments to increase by more than 27 percent in the current quarter
All in all, total sales were down significantly year over year. Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop noted that tough competition in the smartphone market was the main reason behind the fall in phone sales.
The phone maker reported a first-quarter net loss of 0.07 euros (9 cents) a share on sales of 5.85 billion euros ($7.64 billion). Excluding items, it posted a loss of 0.02 euros (3 cents) a share.
Nokia was expected to lose 0.04 euros (5 cents) per share on revenue of 6.63 billion euros ($8.73 billion).
Compared to the year ago quarter, however, when Nokia announced an operating loss of 1.34 billion euros on 7.35 billion euros in revenue, the situation is looking better this time around.
Correction at 4:55 a.m. PT: The story incorrectly characterized Nokia’s earnings.
